'em to death. They hadn't no more idee I could
reach 'em than I had."

"I wonder what they'll do now? They must be going to try that circle
dodge," said I, seeing the party separate.

In a very few moments, before either Jerry or myself realized what they
were doing, they had jumped from their horses, fired the tall, dry grass
to the windward of us, and were scudding away from it as fast as their
horses could carry them.

Quicker than thought, the wind caught the flames, that seemed to leap
fifty feet into the air, which, in an instant, became so filled with heat
and smoke, that suffocation seemed inevitable. We could scarcely see or
breathe; and the wind was driving the flames directly towards us.

The wagons, animals, ourselves even, were at their mercy. What could we
do to escape the horrible fate that stared us in the face?

Jerry was the first to realize our danger. Starting in the direction of
the fire so fast approaching, as he yelled, at the top of his voice,--

"Git ther empty corn-sacks, blankets, anything ter keep ther fire off
from ther wagons and critters. Be quicker'n lightnin', thar!" cried he,
as he hastily set another fire, not twenty yards from us.

In a second we were fighting the new fire with whatever we could lay our
hands upon.

So vigorously did we work, that we succeeded in keeping the flames from
our wagons and stock, which, in a few minutes, rolled by us in huge
billows of fire.

I never saw a grander sight than the vast blackened, smoking plain,
beyond which the flames raged and roared like thunder, while the dense
white smoke, settling low down, partially veiled the sunlight and gave a
weird, strange appearance, that is indescribable, to the scene.

"The cowardly cusses!" said Jerry, as we paused to take breath from our
labors. "They wanted to smoke us out, did they? Well, I reckon, by the
looks round, thet maybe they'll have ter huff it putty lively themselves,
ef they git away from it. I've heerd of the biters gittin' bit
themselves, afore now."

Notwithstanding our misfortune, we could hardly help laughing at the
sight of ourselves, as, with blacked faces, singed clothing, and
blistered hands, we talked the matter over.

Of course we could do nothing but submit, and console ourselves by
wishing that we had the cowardly fellows where we could punish them.

We passed a most uncomfortable night; and, as soon as daylight appeared,
were on the road, reaching the "Springs" late i